For those of you who do not know HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN is the name of a festival that started in England and features many Classic U.K Punk bands. The festival usually lasts 2 or 3 days and features 2 or 3 stages. This was the first time that the festival was brought to the East coast of America. Some of the bands featured were THE EXPLOITED, GBH, THE ADICTS, THE BUSINESS, PARTISANS, ANTI NOWHERE LEAGUE, THE BOYS, UK SUBS, CONFLICT,MDC, CASUALTIES,OXYMORON, ELECTRIC FRANKENSTEIN, TOTAL CHAOS, THE VIRUS, NY-REL-X, RED ALERT, SPECIAL DUTIES, IRON CROSS, THE TEMPLARS, LEFTOVER CRACK, DRONGOS FOR EUROPE, PISTOL GRIP, FUNERAL DRESS, THE 99'S, LOWER CLASS BRATS, BEERZONE, THE KRAYS, MOLOTOV COCKTAIL, HUDSON FALCONS, THE FORGOTTEN, TURBO ACS, TWO MAN ADVANTAGE, A GLOBAL THREAT, THE UNSEEN, US CHAOS, VIOLENT SOCIETY, SPLODGE, INSTANT AGONY, VICTIMIZED, RUN LIKE HELL, ANTIDOTE, THE RIFFS, ENDLESS STRUGGLE, APA, ZOMBIE VANDALS, MIDNIGHT CREEPS, THE BREAKWAYS, AWKWARD THOUGHT, SOUTHPAW MANNERS, SELF DESTRUCT, THE SURVIVORS, TRADITIONALS, THE BOILS, ROGER MIRET & THE DISASTORS, THE GOONS, CAPO REGIME, 17 STITCHES, THE SKELS, SMITH SYSTEM, VIRUS NINE, WEEKEND WARRIORS and many more. The festival was September 6-8, 2002 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park New Jersey and Awkward Thought played Saturday September 7th. It was a great show and a great time for all. Awkward Thought also has been able to play two other HITS. One in Morcambe England in July 2001 and one in Blackpool England in July 2002.

Although the 2002 New Jersey was a great show, there were some problems. The following appeared in a local newspaper after the event.

20 punk fans face charges after Asbury Park beachfront trashed.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/10/02
By NANCY SHIELDS
STAFF WRITER
ASBURY PARK -- Followers of punk rock bands that appeared over the weekend
at The Stone Pony wreaked havoc on the beachfront, city officials and the
rock club's owner said yesterday.
The damage left city officials placing part of the blame on Stone Pony
owner
Domenic Santana and Santana threatening to walk away from the iconic music
club.
Some of the estimated 1,500 young people, many with bright red, green and
yellow Mohawks, leather outfits and body piercings, got into trouble
breaking into empty buildings, including the Casino, to find a place to
sleep. They also broke car windows and were cited for disorderly behavior
at
the Berkeley Carteret Oceanfront Hotel, which was booked solid for the
weekend with festivalgoers.
Some spray-painted graffiti on Convention Hall, boardwalk pavilions and
city
equipment, and littered the waterfront streets, officials said.
The event, "Holidays in the Sun" featured the Exploited, the Business and
the UK Sums among 60 bands on two stages, according to the event's Web
site.
The music went on as scheduled all weekend after the trouble, which
occurred
primarily on Friday night.
Santana said that 1,200 advance tickets were sold and that 1,500 people
were
able to get in. Many of the young people were from around the country and
England and had made no lodging arrangements.
"This was like Woodstock of the punk world, and we did not realize what we
were in for," said Santana, who told city officials he would pay for
damages.
But Santana said yesterday he's "livid" because he believes city officials
are blaming him for what happened. He vowed that he's walking away from
the
club that he revived two years ago.
Santana said City Councilwoman Kate Mellina pounded on the door of his
home
on Second Avenue at 8:30 Saturday morning, telling him that what had
happened on the beachfront was "worse than Greekfest," a reference to
trashing of public and private property at a summer event in past years.
"I'm out of here," Santana said. "I don't need to make a dollar from this
place and be dragged out of bed in the morning.
"Let them make condos," he said of the fight the past year in which a
waterfront developer proposed building condominiums on the Ocean and
Second
avenues site, a proposal the city and club backers prevented from
happening.
"This is the straw that broke the horse's back," Santana said. "They want
a
bedroom community, I'll give them a bedroom community. I don't need this.
I'm a successful businessman in Jersey City. I don't need the money. I'm
tired. That's it, that's it, that's it."
City Manager Terrance Weldon said yesterday he was surprised to hear that
Santana plans to give up the Stone Pony site.
"After the city has gone to such great lengths to preserve The Stone Pony
and keep it where it is in the redevelopment, I'm shocked that Domenic
would
want to walk away at this time," Weldon said. "I'm sure he's going to
disappoint an awful lot of people who have supported his efforts."
Santana had said there would be 1,000 people at the three-day event when
he
filled out his application for a special-event permit, but by 5:30 p.m.
Friday, it was evident that more were coming and it was still early,
Weldon
said.
"When we saw that it was escalating beyond 1,000 people and that there
were
potential problems as a result of this, I notified Domenic that he was
going
to be responsible for all Public Works costs, all police costs and all
emergency medical service and fire costs," Weldon said.
"I said, 'Domenic, you're saying you didn't know the crowd was this big,'
"
Weldon said. "So, I was just concerned, obviously about the litter, the
calls our police and Public Works were getting.
"There's such tremendous effort to move this city forward that when you
have
young people come in and just willfully destroy city-owned property,
private-owned property and conduct themselves the way these concertgoers
did, it is very, very frustrating," Weldon said. "There's no need for it."
Mellina said yesterday she went to Santana's home after she saw the
trashed
beachfront on her way to prepare for a construction job training forum at
Convention Hall. She said she told Santana he had to wait at the
beachfront
until Weldon could get there to talk to him.
"Second Avenue in front of the Pony was just filthy," Mellina said. "All
the
kids were sleeping in cars or under the boardwalk."
City police Detective Capt. Mark Kinmon said 20 arrests were made on
charges
including trespassing, criminal mischief, breaking of car windows,
disorderly conduct and burglary. No one was arrested in the
spray-painting.
Kinmon said two 20-year-olds, Jonathan Parson and Julie Kang, both of San
Pedro, Calif., were spotted breaking into a vacant building at 1207 Ocean
Ave. about 2 a.m. Saturday.
An officer reportedly saw them kick a window in and arrested them. When
Parson was placed into the back seat of a police car, Kang ran to the
other
side of the car and let him out, Kinmon said.
Both were caught and face charges of burglary, resisting arrest and
escape.
THE END

OK so the above story was from a press reporter. All I have to say is that this weekend was awesome even though there was alot of bullshit happening. Yea alot of kids were being a complete jackass and destroying stuff but the show was awesome and the memmories will last a lifetime. Anyone who stayed at the Berkely Hotel knows what I am talking about. Most bands were on the higher floors and thanks to elevator flooding (yes elevator flooding???) we all had the pleasure of having a walk up hotel. Great seeing the old timer UK bands as well as everyone else running out of breath after the 5th floor. Cheers!!! Oh yea and as for music, great sets for AWKWARD THOUGHT as well as RUN LIKE HELL! Thanks to anyone who showed support.